The U.S. Coast Guard on Wednesday recognized the Georgia Ports Authority’s Client Relations Center for a new program that speeds Coast Guard operations and allows for real-time tracking of container inspections.

Singled out for the national innovation award were Felecia Cook, GPA manager of process improvement; Lisa Redmond, process improvement supervisor and Yai Thangtaveekool, manager of applications development. Each received a letter of thanks and a U.S. Coast Guard coin from Rear Admiral William D. Baumgartner, commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District in Miami.

“The Coast Guard is tasked with ensuring the safety and security of the country’s ports,” Baumgartner told the trio.

“But we can’t do that by ourselves. We rely on our partners to help us determine the best way to safeguard our waterways and harbors.

“It’s great to be able to personally thank you for your innovation.”

GPA executive director Curtis Foltz said the program created by Cook, Redmond and Thangtaveekool improves both the container inspection process and the flow of information between the Coast Guard, the ports and cargo owners.

The web-based solution interfaces with GPA’s operations software to provide container-inspection tracking. It allows local Coast Guard officers to notify GPA when a container is designated for inspection, creates work orders to move containers through the process, updates seal changes and tracks the release of individual containers — all in real time.

Making this information instantly available to GPA speeds the movement of the container to its final destination.

“No other port offers one-call problem resolution like GPA’s Client Relations Center,” Foltz said. “This new system is just one more tool for our port to provide world-class service to our partners and customers.”

Lt. Marvin Kimmel, chief of the response department at Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Savannah, said the new system keeps containers moving more efficiently.

“This locally created and implemented program has resolved the traditional Coast Guard container inspection issues of crew safety, port partner notification and working within the intermodal supply chain instead of impeding it,” he said.

Cook said she, Redmond and Thangtaveekool functioned as a team to create the process.

“Lisa and I worked with the Coast Guard to understand what they needed and look at ways to blend that with what our customers needed,” she said. “Then we took it to Yai who worked his technological magic to devise a software program to make it happen.”

A front-line communications tool, the client relations center is designed to respond to customer needs through a single, reliable point of contact. Using proactive procedures, the center helps ensure customers and other port users receive a fast, dependable response to the need for service assistance, cargo coordination and issue resolution.

A lasting legacy

It was hard to miss Howard Morrison’s broad smile Wednesday afternoon as the marker commemorating the 50th anniversary of the NS Savannah’s maiden voyage was unveiled on Hutchinson Island.

A joint project of the Georgia Historical Society, Ships of the Sea Museum and Savannah Ocean Exchange, the marker fulfills one of Morrison’s goals for the Ocean Exchange, his initial brainchild.

“One of my hopes for Ocean Exchange is to create permanent legacies each year to Savannah’s culture of innovation,” he said. “Last year (the first full year for Ocean Exchange) it was the Cockspur Island Lighthouse marker and this year the N.S. Savannah.”

Next year’s historic marker will be dedicated to the S.S. James Oglethorpe, the first liberty ship to be built in Savannah.

Senior business reporter Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for the Savannah Morning News. She can be reached at 912-652-0324 or at mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.

SHIPPING SCHEDULE

These are the ships expected to call on Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City and Ocean Terminals in the next week. Sailing schedules are provided by Georgia Ports Authority and are subject to change.